


First Love.

by imissedyourskin



Series: We are one | Chanbaek [5]
Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: ChanBaek - Freeform, First Times, Fluff, M/M, kaisoo sidepairing, lots of fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-21
Updated: 2018-04-21
Packaged: 2019-04-25 20:38:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 21,522
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14386662
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imissedyourskin/pseuds/imissedyourskin
Summary: The 5th verse to 'Do it.' is one for first times. Take a look back at all the important first times in Chanyeol and Baekhyun's relationship through Baekhyun's eyes, like their first date but also their first fight.





	First Love.

**Author's Note:**

> This whole verse is 20K+ of fluff, with one scene containing some 'smut' which cannot really be called smut. One big ball of softness this is. 
> 
> Enjoy the overload of love <3
> 
> Title based on Exo's 'first love' from their album 'love me right - the 2nd album repackage'

__

_Teach me what love is_  
_Only you can teach me_  
_Slowly draw it on a white piece of paper_  
_So only I can see_  
_Every day, it’s crazy, I will be with you_  
_I dream baby, love you baby baby_

**EXO - First love**

**~**

 

_The first time Baekhyun admitted to having feelings for his best friend, well, was when he blurted it out without thinking about the possible consequences of his action._

"I think I have feelings for Chanyeol," Baekhyun brought out, no shame and no doubt in his words as he just threw them out without a care in the world. It wasn’t difficult to say either, because it was pretty clear to him already that he meant them, but he hadn't ever said it out loud before. Still, he wasn't surprised at how easy it came, because he had already accepted it inside his heart. Saying it out loud, telling someone else, without any nerves whatsoever, was just a confirmation of how certain he was.

Kyungsoo choked when he heard Baekhyun’s words, his drink coming up his nose as he coughed to get it out of his windpipe. It startled Baekhyun, to get this reaction, and he didn’t quite know how to deal with it. For someone who didn't get surprised easily, Kyungsoo’s response to Baekhyun’s confession was a little worrisome. Should he have thought this through a little better? Should he have told someone else instead?

For a moment, while his friend wiped his face dry, Baekhyun worried maybe he shouldn't have told anyone at all. He was about to take it back too, and when Kyungsoo looked up into Baekhyun’s eyes, he was sure his own looked like a deer caught in headlights. He hadn’t been scared to tell at first, hadn’t thought it would be a big deal, but maybe he had been wrong about it.

Baekhyun opened his mouth at the same time as Kyungsoo, but he wasn’t fast enough. "Sorry,” Kyungsoo spoke, sounding rough after this coughing fit, “I just didn't expect you to admit it so casually." And- what?

Baekhyun blinked, surprised once again by his friend’s reaction, because it was nothing like expected. This whole conversation so far was nothing like he had expected it to be, and he wasn’t yet sure if that was a good or a bad thing, if that would work in his favour or not.

As Kyungsoo put down his drink on the table, his eyes darted to Baekhyun's face, who was now looking at him in confusion because he clearly didn't understand what his words were supposed to mean.

Kyungsoo saw the question mark that must have been visible on his forehead and that made him break out into a smile. He chuckled, more to himself than anything, as he asked Baekhyun, "you really think I didn't know? My god, Baekhyun, please, I’m hurt. I mean, I can’t not see it and I’m surprised no one else has caught up yet. However, I'm even more surprised you're telling _me_."

It was clearly a question as to why he had chosen to open up to Kyungsoo of all people, but Baekhyun had a good reason for that. "Well," he argued instantly, "you're always calm. You're a rational person, not many of us are, so I thought you'd be able to give me some rational advice."  

He didn't stop there, though, "but wait- what did you mean with 'admit it so casually'?" The question made Kyungsoo's eyebrows rise up to his hairline, making him look like he had no forehead – which was incredibly hard considering Kyungsoo’s forehead was huge-  and he let out the most incredulous laugh Baekhyun had ever heard from him, "really now, Baek? You're a drama queen. I expected you to make a big fuss of it, to whine and say how difficult your life is because of your crush, not just for you to sit down with me and say it like it's nothing."

Baekhyun shrugged at the comment, sighing as he dropped his head on his arms. It was true, Baekhyun could be a real diva at times, and he did think of all the complications that came with crushing on Chanyeol, but somehow he didn’t feel like complaining about those. "Maybe I'm too used to my feelings already,” he reasoned, “it doesn't really feel like a new crush, not like with Taeyeon. It's like I've always felt this way, but it's taken me a few months to really get to this point. Like, I should have known it when I kept longing for his hugs while I was dating Taeyeon. And when I kind of had a feeling, I was too afraid of being rejected to give up my relationship so quickly."

"Idiot," Kyungsoo mumbled quietly, rolling his eyes at Baekhyun while he picked up his drink again. This time when he drank he managed not to snort it all back up, and with the glass to his lips it was quiet for a moment. Baekhyun wasn’t going to comment, he was waiting for his fellow member to give him his opinion.

When Kyungsoo kept drinking, though, acting like that was the end of their conversation, Baekhyun cleared his throat to get back his attention. It was effective in the way that it made Kyungsoo look up, but instead of getting the point, he looked just as surprised as when Baekhyun had told him about his crush. "What?" Kyungsoo asked, "what more do you want?"

Baekhyun huffed loudly and groaned in frustration before he dared poking Kyungsoo's arm, "come on, Soo! I told you, I want advice. What should I do about this?" He meant it too. He really needed someone to help him out with this complicated mess. Someone who could either encourage him or make him back down, someone he could blame in case things ended up falling apart. "Should I risk it?" he questioned.

A shrug of his shoulders, "yeah sure," and Kyungsoo nodded in reply, sounding just as casual as before. It truly sounded as if he didn't care whatsoever, as if it was all whatever to him. Or maybe he had genuinely already known about it and this was old news to him.

However, that still wouldn't help answer Baekhyun's final question, though. Because whether he had known about Baekhyun's feelings or not, the question of whether to take his chances with Chanyeol was a more complex one. So why was Kyungsoo treating it so lightly?

"Uh-" Baekhyun stuttered, staring at his friend as the guy put down his drink once more and went back to the script in front of him, "are you sure? Like, if he'll hate me for it, it can affect us all. What if he doesn't want to work with me anymore? Then we're fucked," Baekhyun sighed before he added a final, "I think that's exactly why I've been avoiding this confrontation for so long."

Kyungsoo chuckled at that, because apparently this was all very funny, and he clicked his tongue in amusement as he turned his gaze to Baekhyun for the umpteenth time, "for real, Baekhyun. I knew you were slow on the uptake, but turns out you're actually a goddamn idiot. Do you have no eyes? Do you not see what Chanyeol's like when he's with you? Jesus, Baek, the fans ship Chanbaek for a reason, you know?"

"But-" Baekhyun spluttered, "maybe he's just acting that affectionate because of that? Maybe it is just a bit of fanservice from a best friend?" Which Kyungsoo immediately shut down with a fair, "that would make sense if he only did it when you’re in public, but that's not the case is it?"

Baekhyun felt a little stunned, overwhelmed by the realisation that Kyungsoo's statement was accurate. The care with which he treated Baekhyun wasn’t just public. In fact, he felt like Chanyeol actually paid less attention to him in public than he did when they were alone. He touched Baekhyun less in the public eye than he did in private, too, as if he was actually being mindful of who could see.

Could that mean that Chanyeol... no, that idea was truly too ridiculous. Thinking Chanyeol could possible like him already, without Baekhyun having done anything for that at all, it was absurd. With Taeyeon it had taken flirting, a lot of texting and an actual date for her to warm up to him. It had taken sweet words and a kiss goodnight for her to accept him as her boyfriend. With Chanyeol, Baekhyun hadn't even been trying.

His countless whining, unattractive pyjamas and tired face couldn't have made that great of an impression on his crush, and that was what Baekhyun had looked like most of the time when they had grown closer together. And even before that, when they hadn’t been as close, Baekhyun had let his guard down around the other members. After all he had never expected to fall for one of them. He was sure none of that had made him look attractive at all, either. Still, it was who he was, and if Chanyeol did like him like that…

No.

No, there was no chance in hell that the tall goofy giant he was crushing on looked at him much the same way. Kyungsoo was probably just teasing him and Baekhyun wouldn't know because, as always, his friend’s expression was unreadable.

"You're really not fucking with me, are you? Because I don't want to go out there and make a fool of myself only to find you laughing at my misery," Baekhyun pouted, testing Kyungsoo's patience for what felt like the hundredth time that day.

His friend slammed his script down on the table, obviously agitated by how Baekhyun wouldn't let go already, and he sent him an almost angry glare that Baekhyun wasn't sure was intentional or not.

"Let's make a deal, shall we?" He deadpanned, looking absolutely serious about it. Baekhyun only nodded, too scared to ask or refuse, after which Kyungsoo told him, "If you try to get together with him and he turns you down, I will name my firstborn child Baekhyun, no matter if it’s a boy or a girl."

Baekhyun's eyes grew as wide as saucers. Honestly, he feared they would actually fall out of their sockets, they felt that big, and his mouth was a matching round 'O'. Kyungsoo couldn't be serious, he could simply not be serious about this. "But you _hate_ my name, why would you give it to your child?" he stuttered.

"Exactly," Kyungsoo replied, sounding exasperated still, "which is how you know I am dead serious about this. I would genuinely sign a contract right now if it were to appear in front of me. Now can you please, _please_ , go find that idiot and make a move on him so I can study my lines in peace?"

Baekhyun was left speechless, his eyes and mouth still wide open, but all he could think about was that if Kyungsoo was really this serious then maybe, possibly, he had an actual chance at being with Chanyeol. An actual fucking chance.

~

_The first time Baekhyun purposely flirted with Chanyeol, the idiot didn't notice it at all._

Baekhyun knew he was a naturally flirty person. No one had to tell him so, it was pretty clear to himself as well. He liked to hug people, liked to tease others and have a lot of skinship with his fellow members, but all of that came easily.

He hadn’t flirted with anyone on purpose, hadn’t needed to either. People often fell for his natural charm, and even with Taeyeon he hadn’t actually needed to try and get her to be interested in him. Fall for him, sure that had taken work, but that was different.

The point was that Baekhyun was just someone who would catch people’s eyes, and so he had never had to really think about how to flirt, which made it very difficult for him to figure out how to do so. But considering how Chanyeol already knew him, there was no eye-catching to be done. Considering how they were already close and how Baekhyun was already flirty around his best friend, he would have to think of new ways to get the tall idiot’s attention.

See, the thing was that Baekhyun actually wanted to flirt with Chanyeol. Like, really flirt.

Now that he was single again and suddenly so aware of his feelings for his best friend, he wanted to do something about the way his heart skipped a beat every so often when their eyes would meet. He wanted to do something about how his legs turned to jelly whenever Chanyeol would teasingly pretend to hit him, or when he would curl an arm around Baekhyun's waist to tackle him and pull him down on the ground with him.

Truly, becoming aware of his own feelings had actually made him conscious of a lot of things, one of which being how careful Chanyeol was with his behaviour around Baekhyun. It hadn't been obvious to him at first, the way his friend would think through every decision he made to touch him, almost as if considering whether he was allowed to or not, or whether it would be appropriate.

However, at concerts things were different. At concerts, Chanyeol was anything but composed. He was carefree, an explosion of energy, not thinking about anything but having the time of his life, and he looked way more relaxed around Baekhyun that way. It was something that he kind of missed about Chanyeol when they were off the stage.

And so, Byun Baekhyun, mister flirt with his charming smile, had a plan to actually, purposely flirt with Chanyeol for the first time in his life.

It wasn't a very grand plan, god forbid, because that would make it all too obvious too soon, but the point of it was that Baekhyun was aware of the change in his own actions. It helped, because he now knew that every time he saw Chanyeol, he was supposed to try and put his plan into motion, which served as a great reminder.

However, he quickly realised how he was pretty much too scared to go through with it. It wasn't as if he had thought of anything difficult or extraordinary, anything unusual, to try and make Chanyeol look at him in a different light, it was just that he was so nervous about how his friend would react that he kept putting it off.

Every time he opened his mouth to throw out a witty comment, every time he tried to send Chanyeol a dazzling smile, he would just freeze and give up. He kept pulling back once his toes would touch the water, barely dipping in before he’d speed off again, rushing from the shoreline with cold feet.

He kept doing that, time and time again, until the day he saw Chanyeol flirting with another girl.

Or, well, to him it sure looked a lot like flirting, the way his best friend had been smiling his million watt smile while leaning over into the girl's space as he talked to her. He swore there was this sparkle in Chanyeol’s eyes, even though he could hardly see them from where he was standing, that showed just how attracted he was to her.

Baekhyun wondered if the girl knew who he was, if she looked that adorably flustered because this was Park Chanyeol talking to her, or if it was because she thought the stranger in front of her was simply very handsome and kind.

Jealousy, Baekhyun came to realise then, was an awful feeling. To see his goal so close, right there on the horizon as if it was in reach, only for someone to snatch that away from him, it would hurt too much to let that happen. He couldn’t let someone run past him, diving into that sea head first without being scared whatsoever, because Baekhyun knew one day there would be someone doing so. Whether they were this girl or someone else.

To put it quite simply: Baekhyun couldn't let anyone steal Chanyeol away from him.

He knew, as he watched Chanyeol take that girl’s hand between his own in an awkward looking shake, that he couldn’t continue just dipping his toes in the water. He had to push himself further, tread deeper. Which was why, that same night, he decided to pretend. Pretend Chanyeol was his.

He creeped up on the taller while displaying his own most dazzling smile, and when he was certain it would stick on his face he curled his arms around his friend's shoulders, tugging him back slightly and thereby effectively creating a bigger distance between them and the girl.

Chanyeol didn’t immediately push him off to get closer to the girl again, which evidently boosted Baekhyun's confidence, and the girl instantly looked a little less sure of herself as she took in the way Baekhyun draped himself around the guy she had been chatting with. “Yeol,” he whined cutely, using up some of his aegyo, “I want to dance.”

The girl blinked rapidly, staring at the two of them together as Chanyeol grabbed both of Baekhyun’s wrists and held on to them, “can’t you see I’m having a conversation, Baek? Besides, you know I’m not a great dancer.” Baekyun could see the doubt clear on the girl’s face as she took in the use of nicknames, and he knew he only had to take it a tiny step further to shake her off, which was why he pressed his nose to Chanyeol’s neck and nuzzled it.

“You know I’m not either, but I still wanna. Come on,” he begged again, “Yeol, I swear, if you don’t dance with me I will cut the strings of your favourite acoustic.” With his chin resting heavily on Chanyeol’s shoulder, it was easy for Baekhyun to pucker his lips and let them rest against the taller’s neck in a pout.

He could feel the way it sent shivers down Chanyeol’s spine with how Baekhyun was literally breathing down his neck, making him get goosebumps, but what was even more satisfying than that was the way the girl excused herself right after, leaving the two of them alone as she made a run for it.

“What happened to her?” Chanyeol asked, sounding confused as he pushed at Baekhyun’s wrists so he could turn to face him. He was frowning, obviously wondering where things went wrong, and Baekhyun was a little relieved that he didn’t get it was Baekhyun’s fault. “We were just talking and now she’s leaving? She said she played guitar, we were literally in the middle of discussing whether I should buy the new-“

“Yeol,” Baekhyun interrupted him, “forget it. Girls are weird,” he shrugged, wanting to move past it already. That jealousy was still burning in his chest, even though he knew now there was a possibility Chanyeol had only been that interested because the topic of conversation had been music. “So, are you going to dance with me, or what?” he asked then.

And Chanyeol did. He danced with Baekhyun, hands on the shorter’s hips as he sang the words of the song along with Baekhyun, and it felt like the tiniest of breakthroughs. It wasn’t much, but it was something for sure, which was why, a day later, Baekhyun found the courage to try again.

The first step of his newest plan, which was getting into the same van as Chanyeol, had been successful, but that was no reason to rejoice because it was also the easiest step to achieve. Everything important came after, which resulted into his nerves hitting him again once he was strapped into his seat. This time, however, he didn't back down like he had done before.

He watched Chanyeol as the lanky boy sat in his own seat across from Baekhyun, casually playing with his phone’s screen while he was listening to some music.

Baekhyun did only one thing: watch him.

He gawked at Chanyeol for so long that he had memorised every part of his crush’s face, something he had clearly done before already, but the tall idiot stayed pretty oblivious to his stare. By the time his eyes finally flitted up to meet Baekhyun's, they were almost at their destination already, and all he did in reply to Baekhyun’s observing gaze was cock an eyebrow and ask, "what?"

Baekhyun had wanted to say so many things, from cringeworthy things such as 'you look like my next boyfriend' to more romantic things like 'I could watch your stupidly gorgeous face for hours'. But alright, maybe that was a little creepy and too much too soon.

Luckily for him, Baekhyun realised what a lame way that would be to confess before any words left his mouth, thank god. It was why he shrugged, swallowing whatever words were trying to come out, and he sent Chanyeol a smile that he knew wasn't very convincing. It was fake, absolutely fake, and Baekhyun could feel the corners of his mouth trembling with nerves, but Chanyeol didn't notice any of it.

Which meant that Baekhyun had to step it up another notch, much farther than he had ever taken it before in order to try and get through Chanyeol's density, and that proved to be a lot harder than he had thought.

Baekhyun tried smiling more, touching more, winking from time to time, laughing at Chanyeol's stupid jokes, all of which became more comfortable the more he did them, but none of it seemed to register as flirting in Chanyeol's stupid brain. He always returned the smiles, let Baekhyun fold himself over his lap and he even ruffled Baekhyun's hair when he said something stupid, but that was it.

There was no grand revelation that Baekhyun was actually flirting with him, no moment of realisation that this was more than Baekhyun's regular behaviour. And he was actually putting effort in this, god damn it.

It was frustrating to say the least, and Baekhyun would have thrown in the towel if it hadn't been for how much he liked Chanyeol. Even though he was annoying and blind as a bat, Baekhyun found himself falling harder and harder for the asshole puppy he called his best friend.

Chanyeol kept holding open doors for him, kept close to him as they were being crushed by fans at the airport, and he still let Baekhyun sneak into his bed whenever he wanted to even though he no longer had any relationship issues to use as an excuse. Baekhyun had gotten used to it too.

He tried to be bolder in those moments too, by curling an arm around Chanyeol's waist and leaving the smallest of kisses to his skin whenever he could without being too damn obvious, but the issue was still that none of that was really new and unexpected from someone like Baekhyun. He had cuddled with Chanyeol before, and whatever courage he had to confess fell on deaf ears, for he only dared saying the words when Chanyeol was either too close to sleep to notice, or already far away in dreamland.

He started calling his crush 'Chanyeollie', started smiling brightly at him whenever he would catch his best friend look his way, and whenever he could he'd be there with him, lining up their schedules. In the end, though, Baekhyun got so desperate that he actually took it _too_ far.

All went well for a while, even though it was a little tiring acting that happy all the time, but the issue was that Baekhyun wasn't really seeing a change in Chanyeol's behaviour, which was quite annoying. Yet he didn't quit, he refused to, and so there he sat again, leaning on his hand as his elbow rested on the table, his never fading smile on his face as he whined, "Chanyeollieeeeee."

Chanyeol looked up from his laptop screen, eyes questioning, but he didn't ask what Baekhyun wanted. Baekhyun sent him his most radiant smile as his fingers twirled in his hair. He swore it was too much, the aegyo was making his face hurt, but still Chanyeol's eyes didn't show any recognition, didn’t acknowledge Baekhyun's flirting whatsoever.

Instead, his eyes moved back to his screen and Baekhyun let out the loudest sigh possible. It wasn’t enough to make Chanyeol look up, but he didn’t ignore it either. "What's up with you lately, you keep looking so happy and smiley and then the next second you look really down. It's like someone keeps giving you a puppy only to take it away a minute later," Baekhyun’s crush snorted, fingers smashing the keys and his eyes never leaving the screen. His smile was bright, but lasted for only a second before he went on, "this doesn't have anything to do with Taeyeon, right?"

Baekhyun's heart made a tiny jump as he realised the sour look on Chanyeol's face seemed to be related to his ex-girlfriend, but it died down again when he realised it probably wasn't jealousy like he hoped it would be, just worry for his wellbeing.

"No," he replied sternly, growing frustrated with this whole ordeal. He wanted to just move in and kiss Chanyeol, get the message through his thick brain already, but he knew that was too risky. There was so little he could do, but this flirting clearly wasn't working either, and Baekhyun knew he had to be a little bolder still.

He dropped his hand, sitting straighter again and he tried to keep the annoyance at bay when he spoke, "how often do I have to tell you I'm over her before you will believe me? Until she's dating someone else? Until I am? I'm not going to come over one day and tell you we're back together again, so start believing me, okay?"

"Yeah, I mean, it's not like I don't trust you, you know that. It's just that it's happened so often and I'm never sure..." Chanyeol trailed off before he groaned and finally, fucking finally, looked at Baekhyun, "anyway, if that's not it, then what is it? What's going on, Baek?"

Baekhyun balled his hands into fists, forced himself to take it up a notch even if his heart was in his throat making him feel like he could puke any second now. Honestly, this couldn't go on forever. He had to act now, take the dive before he’d chicken out again, even if the water was freezing.

"When are you going to realise?" He asked Chanyeol, his voice soft as he kept his eyes on the table for now, trying to find the courage to actually say or do something braver than before. It was hard though, especially because Chanyeol was still so damn dense.

"Realise what?" the idiot asked in turn, sounding completely oblivious to what Baekhyun was talking about and, yeah, that confirmed just how dense he was.

Baekhyun forced his eyes up then, meeting Chanyeol's, which were displaying question marks as he looked at his best friend, and he couldn't take it anymore. He sounded angry as he said the words, his frustration pouring out, and he was sure he would pass out straight after as the silence filled the air, "that I want you to take me out!"

Chanyeol stared at him, blinking with his mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water, but he didn't say anything for a long time. Really, it was spectacular to watch the way he kept blinking in time with the opening and closing of his mouth, it was honestly a skill. Still, Baekhyun was a little thankful for it, because at least it meant he wasn't immediately getting rejected.

He waited, his heart beating so loudly in his chest that he was sure Chanyeol would be able to hear it, see it beat against his ribs, but it wasn't long for its beating paused. When Chanyeol stopped acting like a fish and opened his mouth to talk this time, Baekhyun was paying so much attention to him that he even heard the inhale of air before words started pouring out.

"You want me to take you out?" Chanyeol voiced, "that's it?" He asked it as if it was the most ridiculous thing he had heard all day, as if he couldn't believe that this was what had been bothering Baekhyun, and that made the latter deflate like a balloon. He released the air he had been holding, let his hands drop next to his body and his shoulders sagged.

Fuck Kyungsoo, guess he'll be calling his first born kid Baekhyun then.

"You're just hungry? That's what you're making a big deal of?" Chanyeol went on, closing his laptop screen and pushing the device away, "you're such a drama queen, Byun. Fine, I'll take you out for lunch grumpy puppy."

Baekhyun, who was now sitting with his chin dropped against his chest, slowly felt his heartbeat return as he realised that stupid, idiotic and blind Park Chanyeol was still not getting it. He wasn't rejecting Baekhyun, he was just missing the whole meaning of Baekhyun's words, and right now Baekhyun wasn't sure which was worse.

As he looked up again, meeting Chanyeol's innocent and affectionate smile, Baekhyun couldn't hold back. He jumped up, startling Chanyeol who barely managed to scoot away from his best friend before said best friend got his hands on him.

Baekhyun balled the fabric of the collar of Chanyeol’s shirt in his fists and then shook his crush violently, pushing and pulling on him with both hands, "Oh my god, Chanyeol," he groaned desperately, unable to finish his sentence without exploding.

He smacked the giant's forehead, ignoring the desperate whines and sounds of distress that escaped his best friend's lips, and he yelled, "I'm going to kill you!"

Chanyeol raised his arms, trying to defend himself from the little ball of anger that was attacking him, but it didn't really work. Baekhyun kept hitting him, repaying the punches his heart had received ever since he had truly started falling for Chanyeol, and for some reason his crush stopped resisting, letting him use him as a punching bag. It was almost as if he understood.

~

_The first time Chanyeol actually took Baekhyun out, on a date to be precise, got them to the turning point from friends to lovers._

It happened a few days after their first kiss at the Gocheok Sky Dome and it wasn’t called a date. Neither of them had used that exact word, but they both knew it was from the way Chanyeol had asked him and the fact that both of them had put effort into looking their best.

[Baekhyun](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C7_oGCkV4AAOexh.jpg) was dressed in a white shirt with the top buttons undone, the front of it tucked into a pair of light blue jeans and his hair styled to perfection. He knew he looked polished, like he had actually spent time on his own appearance, even though the outfit wasn’t anything Chanyeol hadn’t seen before. Then again, that was kind of hard to achieve too, considering how they wore new clothes almost every single day.

However, even with the effort he put into looking his best, Chanyeol still beat him by a mile. Baekhyun kind of faded into the background when he walked next to him, they were such a stark contrast together.

Whereas Baekhyun was wearing white, [Chanyeol](https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQy0UHP-GpoYRbliJO1uYxEwbtignapNw0_t5TONoJ7NSUH7k2k7w) was wearing black jeans which were ripped at the knee, as well as a black and white striped sweater with a black leather jacket on top of it. His hair, which usually covered his forehead, looking fluffy, was now styled up. He looked handsome and a little mysterious, and Baekhyun felt the first wave of butterflies of the night wash over him as he took him in.

Chanyeol’s smile was the same as always, blinding Baekhyun in the best of ways, and it immediately broke the tension that had made it Baekhyun had been nervous about going before. He found rather quickly that it wasn’t actually weird at all, walking off with his best friend knowing they’d be going on a date together. Why would it be? They had already kissed, there wasn’t much that could go wrong now.

But even though nothing much could go wrong, there was still a thrill to it too. The chances of them getting caught by fans or any paparazzi would be high, but unlike what things had been like with Taeyeon, no one else would suspect that this was a date the two boys were on. They were used to Chanyeol and Baekhyun being close and hanging out together, because they were in the same group. No one would think there was more to it than a friendly get together, but they themselves knew better.

A part of Baekhyun really wanted to reach out and take Chanyeol’s hand, even though he clearly couldn’t, and as he thought of it he realised that famous or not, he felt too nervous about it regardless of that. Just like it had nothing to do with the possible outcome of the date, it had also nothing to do with getting caught by others.

The only reason Baekhyun was nervous, was because this was a _first_ date, and with Chanyeol he didn’t know what to expect with that. First dates were always nerve-wrecking for him, and luckily there had only been few of those, but he hoped that today would be a different experience than the previous ones. He had hope to find out that all his previous dates had been tense mostly because he’d be constantly on the lookout for cameras and young teenage girls that would spot them. That, and he kind of hoped it had been awkward because in reality, they were never a good fit for him.

Chanyeol, observant as he could be – because those moments were rare, but not when it came to Baekhyun - , seemed to sense how his date was worrying a lot, and he knew just how to get rid of his anxiety too. It was both a curse and a blessing to date someone like that, but tonight, it was the latter.

Chanyeol’s eyes had been on him for some time, taking in the way Baekhyun had been fidgeting, and when he was certain that it wasn’t accidental he slowed down his steps so he could properly walk next to Baekhyun rather than one step ahead of him. He chuckled as he did so, lifting one hand to Baekhyun’s shoulder, where he let his palm slide up to the shorter’s neck.

As he squeezed the muscle there, Baekhyun felt himself go limp on that side, his shoulder sagging to accommodate. “Chill,” Chanyeol assured him, “it’s just me. We’re just going out for dinner together, like we’ve done a thousand times before. No pressure.”

The words were supposed to help, but they didn’t. They only made Baekhyun’s heart drop a tiny bit further, made his worries and uncertainty grow, and so he glared at his crush for a moment, biting his reply at him, “don’t say that.”

It made Chanyeol raise his eyebrows at him, surprised by the attacking nature of the comment. It was cleat that he had hoped, and kind of expected, to make Baekhyun relax more, not make him annoyed or more upset. Or both.

“Don’t say it’s just us going out for dinner. It’s not,” Baekhyun clarified for him, hoping to wipe away that frown again, “I don’t see how you’re so calm about it.” He stopped walking, feeling how his hands were trembling at his side a little too much and so he tucked them into his pockets, trying to hide them from view.

“It’s not us going out for dinner?” Chanyeol questioned, his voice awfully void of emotion which meant that he was either purposely teasing his date, or he really was that dense and had never really put the label ‘date’ on his invitation to dinner. And honestly, Baekhyun felt like he was about to fume at that, bringing up his hand to slap the taller silly, like he had done before when Chanyeol had been too big of an idiot.

“Oh my god, I’m going home,” he huffed, frustrated, while he watched Chanyeol cringe as he took in Baekhyun’s raised hand. It was as if he was expecting the hit, a smile on his face showing his amusement until Baekhyun actually turned around and took a step in the other direction, which got him to shoot forward to curl his fingers around Baekhyun’s wrist. The hold was tight and Baekhyun was weak, the combination of which left him unable to break free from Chanyeol’s grasp.

“Okay, alright, alright. I’m sorry,” the tall idiot behind him apologised, the pads of his fingers pressing into Baekhyun’s pulse point, “it’s not just us going out for dinner. It’s a date.” He confirmed what Baekhyun had been rightfully thinking, yet it made him want to hit Chanyeol even more. Because if he knew this already, if he had thought of it that way, then why was he making fun of Baekhyun for it?

He wanted to speak, to ask about it, but he couldn’t move an ounce as his brain kept repeating the words he had just heard. ‘ _It’s a date, it’s a date, it’s a date’_. It was such a magical sentence to hear coming from his crush’s mouth, and Baekhyun momentarily forgot what they had been bickering about, until Chanyeol’s voice lured him out of his thoughts again.

“I get why you’re nervous, I am too. You know how I try to be funny when I get nervous, but it always fails because I suck at joking around. I start saying stupid stuff and will ramble on to a point where you want to get up and leave, and you’ll tell me it was a mistake to come on this date with me, which you’re kind of doing now anyway, and that would suck. Anyway, see, I’m doing it now. I’m rambling, but please, don’t leave.”

Hearing Chanyeol actually rambling for real, he wasn’t just saying it, it made Baekhyun soft inside. He really wanted to get up on his toes and press his fingers to his crush’s lips, but he couldn’t do that there, which was why instead he grabbed Chanyeol’s wrist the same way he had been held before.

He tightly curled his fingers around it and squeezed to get Chanyeol’s attention. His crush snapped out of it then, eyes meeting Baekhyun’s with a desperation that made him cave even harder. “Stop it,” he brought out, and then, “I’ll stay.”

He could see the way his words made the taller relax within a second, his smile returning as he stopped blurting out whatever thought was on his mind. Really, Baekhyun got it, he really did. Chanyeol was nervous too, just like him, but he just hoped that the taller would quit it with the thoughtless jokes, because he didn’t know how to interpret those and that meant he would always settle for the least favourable outcome. Like he had done just now.  

Once Chanyeol was positive that Baekhyun wouldn’t try to run away again, he continued their walk to the restaurant. Baekhyun, whose hand was still holding on to the taller’s wrist, let himself be tugged onwards until they reached the place.

It was a restaurant where Baekhyun hadn’t ever been before, but he knew Chanyeol had. He remembered seeing pictures of him with some friends on his Instagram, back when he had been out with Taeyeon. He had missed out then, had felt those first bursts of jealousy.

“The owner really likes me, so I got us a private spot away from the other customers. I hope you don’t mind that, because I’d like it if I didn’t have to think about every move I make around you,” Chanyeol explained right as he pushed open the door to the restaurant.

A woman was already rushing up to the door to help, having seen them coming, and Baekhyun had a feeling this was the owner Chanyeol was referring to. She smiled at them with sparkling eyes, like she was proud to have them over for dinner, and she bowed in front of them as she greeted them, “it’s a pleasure to have you here again, Chanyeol.”

Baekhyun was surprised to see how well they appeared to be knowing each other, for the lady to actually call him Chanyeol. He bowed along with his crush as he returned the greeting before he let Chanyeol do the talking. The taller politely answered some of her questions as they were led to their table, but Baekhyun stayed quiet through it all, taking in the look and feel of the restaurant, and he kind of felt like he was back home.

There was a laid back atmosphere in the air that made him feel much younger, a little less famous too with how no one here was attacking them for whatever reason. Maybe they were used to seeing idols around, or maybe they didn’t care. It could be either, but it was refreshing to see.  

Chanyeol made sure he felt comfortable once he sat down before he himself sat down across from him, not saying another word. It was then, when they had arrived and sat down together, that Baekhyun felt awkward around his best friend for the first time that night.

A silence fell between them, as if both of them were realising what this was at the same time. It was weird, because it didn’t actually feel any different from other times where they had gone out together. They’d always go there together, walking closely together all the way, and Chanyeol would always help him sit down first. Getting a bite to eat together wasn’t strange at all, it was the fact that they were both calling it a date that made it odd, and Baekhyun played with his chopsticks in the hope looking at them would bring down his blush.

When he finally looked up again, wondering what Chanyeol was doing while he was so quiet, he found that he was being watched intently. His crush leaned his chin on his hands, which were folded together as he rested his elbows on the table. He looked a little too tall for it to be comfortable, but it was cute nonetheless, especially because his eyes were so soft as he stared at Baekhyun lovingly, which instantly brought back the blush that he had so desperately tried to push away.

“Anyway,” Baekhyun mumbled under his breath before he took a deep breath that sounded almost like a hiss with the way the air moved past his teeth. He averted his eyes for a second in which he heard Chanyeol chuckle at him before he started laughing quietly. Baekhyun could tell he had that huge toothy grin on his face without looking at him, and it became hard to hold his own.

Underneath the table he felt Chanyeol’s foot kick at his shin. It wasn’t a hard kick, just a tap to get him to look up, and when he did his crush was giving him that loving look _again._ It made Baekhyun feel so flustered and he cleared his throat as he forced himself to hold eye contact. They watched each other like that until the woman arrived with the first plates of food and their drinks.

Baekhyun was glad for the distraction, for it gave him some time to think of how to break the tension in the air. Although it wasn’t a bad awkwardness between them any longer, not after Chanyeol’s attempts to make him smile, it was still strange, and he didn’t want to leave the restaurant feeling like their date had somehow sucked.

He spent a good minute staring at his hands as the lady put down their dishes, trying really hard to come up with something to talk about, and when she finally left and he looked up, ready to open his mouth and talk about something mundane like the weather, Chanyeol’s face made him choke on the words that were already on his tongue.

There he was, Park Chanyeol, the most handsome man Baekhyun had ever laid eyes on, sitting across from him with the ends of his chopsticks stuck underneath his upper lip. His eyes were almost popping out and he tried to wrinkle his nose somehow. It made him look like a walrus, with its two tusks sticking out, and Baekhyun couldn’t help but let the laughter that was bubbling up in his chest come out.

The scene was so hilarious that Baekhyun laughed until he had tears in his eyes and Chanyeol, who had started smiling too, let the chopsticks fall from his mouth once he had claimed his victory. He caught them in his hand easily, seemingly very pleased with himself for having made the other laugh, and Baekhyun leaned over to slap his arm in a rapid sequence, “what did you pull that ugly face for, yah?! You want me to break up with you here and now?”

Chanyeol moved away from his hitting, falling sideways on the table as his long limbs flailed, and his loud laughter filled Baekhyun to the brim with happiness. God, he had fallen for a guy who was a bigger dork than him, and for some reason he liked it too.

“I just wanted to make you smile!” Chanyeol argued, hiding behind his arms so Baekhyun’s attack wouldn’t reach his face, but he didn’t have to worry because the shorter had already focussed on the food instead of his assault. “You looked so serious, overthinking it all. So I embarrassed myself for your sake.”

It was sweet. Baekhyun’s heart jumped in his chest at the stupid gesture and he glanced at Chanyeol through his eyelashes, showing him how he appreciated it even though he didn’t want to admit it. The silence between them said enough, and Baekhyun slowly watched that beautiful smile grow confidently once more.

They spent the next few minutes stuffing their faces with food, the way they would usually do, and they fell back into their usual pattern of having short conversations in between mouthfuls of godly rice. They talked about schedules and home, a new video game Baekhyun loved as well as how good the food was. But a shift had happened between them too.

Because once there was a lull between small talk, Chanyeol suddenly got very serious by starting a story while he was eating his noodles. “Do you remember the night you walked in and told me you about you and Taeyeon?” He asked Baekhyun, who nodded because of course he did. “Well, that was the night I realised I had feelings for you.”

Baekhyun pulled a face, something which included both a frown and the wrinkling of his nose, and he put down his chopsticks temporarily as he took in what he had just heard. Chanyeol took it as a signal that he wanted to say something, and so he held up his hand and forced him to hold it in and listen instead.

As he put down his own chopsticks, he went on, “it was so strange to realise it. Once you climbed into my bed that first night you fought, my suspicions were only confirmed too, because you were crying, but all I felt was relief to have you back with me. At first I had hoped that I just didn’t like her, because I thought you were too good for her too, but I was only jealous. You were sad and I was happy, and then the next day when you made up it was the other way around. You were happy then, smiling at me as you broke my heart.”

“Chanyeol…” Baekhyun trailed off, feeling the guilt eat at him. Honestly, he felt like he should have known somehow. Either about Chanyeol’s feelings then or about his own, but he had been too stuck in the idea of what should have been. The constant fighting and on and off’s of his relationship with Taeyeon had kept him in the dark for so long that it had taken him forever to get what his own heart had been trying to tell him. He could have had this forever ago.

Chayeol stopped him again, shaking his head after he swallowed a sip of his drink. Baekhyun shut up instantly, ready to listen to whatever else he had to say, because Baekhyun couldn’t imagine there was more to it. “It wasn’t your fault,” Chanyeol promised, “I know even I was late to discover it myself. I can’t blame you for taking more time to get there, especially not because you’re sitting here with me now. On our date.”

“The point is,” he leaned on his hands again, watching Baekhyun intently, “that I want to start being honest with you, because I want to share other things with you apart from the simple small talk we always make. We were already so close that not much has changed between us, and I know that a step from friends to being lovers isn’t a huge leap in our case, but it’s not small either. I want you to know that I won’t hold back from now on and I hope you don’t either.”

Baekhyun listened a little breathlessly as Chanyeol sounded so much more mature than he had ever really been around him. Not that Baekhyun had ever doubted about his crush being able to act all grown up, just that he hadn’t often experienced it before outside of EXO related business.

He found himself subconsciously nodding in reply, even though he didn’t fully understand it, and it actually took a second for him to find the courage to ask. “Okay,” he stuttered slightly, “but, Chanyeol, what do you mean with that? What is it that we don’t talk about?”

His crush chuckled, tipping his head a little more so he could send Baekhyun another dazzling smile. He looked like he was thinking about how Baekhyun sure had it coming with that question. As if he knew that it would leave Baekhyun an embarrassed mess, and well, he guessed Chanyeol just knew him too well.

“I mean that I want to talk to you about my dreams, about things I’ve never told anyone else” Chanyeol admitted, “I want to hold your hand, kiss your cheek and tell you how beautiful you look without make-up, because I know you are insecure about that. I want you to tell me about those insecurities too, so I can lift your burdens and carry them with you.”

Baekhyun was a little afraid that he would end up crying on their first date. There wasn’t anything too special about the things Chanyeol had said, but to Baekhyun it was a dream to hear those words. It was what he had lacked in his previous relationship so much, something beyond the sexual attraction and unexciting talks he had had with Taeyeon.

Chanyeol had always been more to him, someone to confide in whenever he needed to, but even back then Baekhyun hadn’t always poured out his heart when he felt like it. He had been careful and exactly for the reason that he didn’t want to burden Chanyeol with his issues, yet this was exactly what he was asking for right now.

He understood it too, because Baekhyun himself wanted the same. He wanted to earn that trust, wanted to get that unmistakable feeling that Chanyeol had faith in him and could share with him whatever was bothering him, both good and bad things. To be each other’s rock as well as each other’s happiness, that was what he wanted, and to hear the same be said out loud by Chanyeol made all his worry about them disappear.

As he stretched out his hand, palm up in an attempt to show Chanyeol it was okay to take it, he sent him a soft smile he hoped would convey how much he felt. Apparently through it all, he had lost the ability to form proper sentences, and all he managed to push out was a stupid sounding, “me too.”

It was enough, though, because Chanyeol seemed to sense how he was overcome by emotions, and as he put his fingers over Baekhyun’s in a weird kind of hold, he gave a slow nod. They finished dinner that way, with their hands still on the table between them, and as they left the lady sent them a soft smile and sent them off with warm wishes.

As they stepped outside, the serious mood that Chanyeol had created lingered a while longer, until the wind had blown it all away. Baekhyun realised then that he had dressed a little too casually for the late night weather, and so he wrapped an arm around himself to keep the warmth the restaurant had provided.

He hid behind Chanyeol’s tall form some to get away from the wind, and it didn’t take long for the other to realise with how Baekhyun was shivering. It was then that he went back to being the Chanyeol that Baekhyun was so used to, glancing over his shoulder to look at the shorter while he said, “I’d offer you my jacket, but then I’d be cold.”

Baekhyun gritted his teeth, wrapping another arm around himself just so he wouldn’t punch his lover’s arm, and Chanyeol laughed at that before he paused. Immediately, without thinking, Baekhyun stopped as well.

He watched as Chanyeol shrugged off his leather jacket and held it up in the air, clearly waiting for Baekhyun to turn around for him. “Well, hurry up before all the warmth is gone,” he ushered, after which Baekhyun spun on his heels.

Chanyeol put the coat on his shoulders then, his hands resting on his upper arms as it fell into place and Baekhyun instantly felt a few degrees warmer. The only thing was, he didn’t know whether that was due to the jacket, or the man holding on to him tenderly.

~

_The first time the word ‘boyfriend’ was mentioned was when Chanyeol had been a sneaky little motherfucker going behind Baekhyun’s back._

Baekhyun had been sitting on their dorm room’s couch, playing a video game without a care in the world. It felt amazing, to have some down time where he could stop thinking about his life as an idol and just act his age for a while. And unlike most of the others, he had been relieved from his schedules for once, which meant that he didn’t just have down time, he had alone time.

Alone time was hardly a thing now that he spent so much time with Chanyeol, but tonight Baekhyun’s crush had other responsibilities. The tall, handsome dork had been cast for a movie and had script readings that night. He wouldn’t be back until late, which meant that they wouldn’t have a lot of cuddle time before bed, but for once Baekhyun didn’t really mind. It meant he got to spend a few hours doing whatever he wanted.  

Which was how Baekhyun had ended up on the couch, playing one his favourite games for two hours straight, as a way to relieve some stress. He wasn’t entirely alone, he knew Sehun was somewhere around too and maybe Kyungsoo was hidden away somewhere doing his own thing too, but the others were out. To be honest, Baekhyun had lost track of what everyone else was up to, well, apart from Chanyeol then.

Thinking about Kyungsoo, Baekhyun wondered how much his fellow member knew. It was pretty obvious now that the guy kept sending both him and Chanyeol these creepy looking smiles that told them he knew _something_ was up.

Morever, he kept poking Baekhyun’s arm whenever they’d be out somewhere and he had caught Chanyeol watching him. It was pretty clear that he was aware of the thing going on between his two friends, but he had never once mentioned it or asked about it. It made him a nice support to have, because even though he knew he didn’t ask questions that neither him nor Chanyeol had an answer to right now.

It was why Baekhyun didn’t care about Kyungsoo being around that night, didn’t care that he was one of the two able to witness the events that followed the ringing of his phone.

However, Sehun, he was mister gossip. The maknae of their group was the sneakiest snake Baekhyun had ever met. Before meeting him, Baekhyun had thought he was pretty sneaky himself, had thought that he would probably be the most dramatic one in the group, but Sehun was like the quiet Queen Bee who would observe and then strike when you’d least expect it. So, more like Queen Serpent.

He was the one Baekhyun worried about when he heard his phone ring and saw the screen light up next to him. Actually, it took him quite some time to figure out it was ringing, with the way he was so focused on his game, but when he did he quickly paused the game and dropped the controller in his lap.

As he lifted the device up to his face, he could already tell it was Chanyeol calling him from the picture that popped up with it, and Baekhyun was about to click accept and answer the call when he saw the name at the top of the screen.

‘‘my boyfriend’ is calling you,’ the screen said, showing a picture of a smiling Chanyeol that was covering half of his face with his hand, fingers held up in a heart.

Boyfriend.

Holy fuck.

He pressed accept.

“What the hell, Park Chanyeol,” he answered, all but screaming out his name, and he received a short giggle from the asshole on the other side of the line. Clearly Chanyeol already knew what Baekhyun was referring to, and he felt no shame in what he had done to his boyfriend’s – he guessed it was official then – phone.

“Hello to you too, beautiful,” the second snake in EXO replied, singing the words in a tune that just told Baekhyun how smug he was, “what’s wrong?”

He dared to ask what was wrong, dared to pretend like he didn’t have a clue what this was about, and Baekhyun wasn’t actually that annoyed by it but he still pretended.

“What’s wrong you ask? Oh, I don’t know,” he threw back sweetly as he sat back and crossed his arms, “I guess maybe the fact that you changed your contact name to ‘my boyfriend’ and added the ugliest picture of yourself you could find.” He was joking, absolutely joking, because that picture was the cutest, but he loved teasing Chanyeol.

“Ah, that,” his boyfriend hummed, smile audible in his voice, “well, I was honestly offended you hadn’t changed it yet. After all I asked you to be mine three days after our first kiss and you said you were already mine. That said it all, didn’t it?”

he didn’t stop there though, “I mean I thought I was late and I changed it weeks ago, after that time we went out _just_ for dinner.” It made Baekhyun’s cheeks heat up, wondering if maybe he was just very slow on the uptake. Maybe he was the one who should have thought of this sooner, of the fact that they were basically official already even though they had always been vague about it.

“Oh,” he replied dumbly, blinking a few times to clear his head, “you were? You did? Really?” For a second he worried that maybe Chanyeol was still playing him, only cracking jokes, but then he heard the other make an agreeing sound that came across as rather honest, and Baekhyun felt bad about it all over.

He felt even worse when Chanyeol said, “you can change it back if you want to, but I thought it was a cute way to let you know that that’s what I want to call you from now on, and what I want you to call me from now on, too. Like, to show you I’m serious and that I want this to be an exclusive thing.”

Baekhyun was stupid. He was actually fucking stupid. God, how could he not have thought about this?

“No, no,” he immediately started refusing the suggestion, shaking his head at Chanyeol even though the guy couldn’t see, “I’ll keep it.”

He heard the hope in Chanyeol’s voice as he replied with a soft and unsure, “yeah?” To which Baekhyun stupidly nodded his head, which again, Chanyeol couldn’t even see.

“Yeah,” he confirmed, “I’d like that. I’d like it if you’d call me your boyfriend.”

“Holy shit!”

It wasn’t Chanyeol’s voice saying those words, like Baekhyun thought for a split second. However, that didn’t sound like his boyfriend, it sounded like, “Sehun.”

Baekhyun shot up in his seat as Sehun stared at him from the doorway, his mouth dropped wide open. He was holding a glass of juice in his hand, but he seemed to have forgotten all about it as he watched Baekhyun with this flabbergasted look on his face.

“Sehun? You want Sehun to call you your boyfriend?” Chanyeol asked, sounding confused on the other end of the line, and Baekhyun shook his head once more before he said, “no, no I- let me call you back, Yeol.”

He hung up without waiting for his boyfriend to say a goodbye or ask any more questions, and then he stood up from the couch, phone in his hands, “Sehun. I- it’s uh- complicated?” he tried. The maknae wouldn’t have any of that, though.

He walked over to the couch in a few large strides and slammed his drink down on the table, spilling some juice as he did so, before he tugged Baekhyun to sit down next to him, “like hell it is.”

He had finally closed his mouth, but he was staring at Baekhyun with this intensely curious gaze, and there was no escape. Baekhyun was the mouse, trapped while watching the Cobra do its dance, and he sighed as he deflated in defeat.

“Chanyeol plus boyfriend? You and that goof? When, how, who?” Sehun summed up as he counted the questions on his fingers, “I need to know everything. If you leave anything out I swear all of us will know before you can even try and come up with a lie great enough to make them believe you over me.”

“What the fuck, Sehun,” Baekhyun whined, frowning at his friend, “how do you dare talk to your hyung like tha- ah, ouch.”

Sehun, who had one of the most pointless skills anyone could ever have, was using it on Baekhyun now, effectively too. The snake was very good at finding people’s nipples without having to look for them, which he could use to his advantage by twisting them whenever he needed something. It was a skill that had caused Junmyeon, the good-mouthed leader, to curse more often than anything else, and Baekhyun had laughed back then, but now he understood why.

“Don’t you dare,” Sehun spoke, his voice low and threatening, and Baekhyun was for real a little scared. It was why he was so relieved to hear a soft, calm voice cut in with a demanding, “uhm, what are you two doing?”

“Kyungsoo,” Baekhyun heaved a sigh of relief as he expected for Sehun to let go of him now that he was there. He expected Kyungsoo’s presence to be enough, and if it weren’t, he expected his partner in crime to save him in a situation like this, knowing what he knew.

“Baekhyun and Chanyeol are dating. I heard Baekhyun call him his boyfriend,” Sehun spilled easily, his eyes still on Baekhyun’s face and his fingers still very much twisting the older’s nipple. Baekhyun squirmed, sending Kyungsoo a desperate glance over his shoulder, but his friend was no help.

“Oh, finally?” he replied, sounding uninterested, as if they were talking about nothing but the weather. How he managed to sound that indifferent, Baekhyun didn’t know, but he was actually a little thankful for it this time, because the comment made Sehun’s hold loosen, enough for Baekhyun to break free and push himself as far away from him as possible, until his back hit the arm of the couch.

“Finally?” Sehun asked, his eyes now murdering Kyungsoo, who was raising an eyebrow at the youngest, almost daringly. “Yeah,” he said to him, “you didn’t notice before? I’m disappointed, Sehunnie. I thought you were an observer, like me, but seems like I beat you to it.”

For a second it seemed like Sehun had swerved his attention from Baekhyun to Kyungsoo, and Baekhyun saw the window of opportunity for him to flee grow with every second the two fellow members kept their eyes on each other.

Right when the tension was about to burst, he saw his chance and leapt up, ready to run off to hide in his room, but Sehun was quicker. His hands grabbed the back of Baekhyun’s shirt and he easily tugged the shorter boy back, “no way, Byun Baekhyun.”

Baekhyun whined, giving up as soon as he realised that if he kept going his shirt would rip, which really wasn’t worth it. He fell back against the couch, successfully hitting Sehun in the face as he did, but that was only a small victory compared to the losses he had made.

As he looked up again, he saw Kyungsoo slip away again, a huge grin on his face as he disappeared with a small wave. “Traitor,” Baekhyun mumbled under his breath, already hearing Sehun repeat all the questions that he had.

Thanks Chanyeol, thanks Kyungsoo, this would be a long night.

Yet still, knowing that Chanyeol was now officially his, somehow that made it all okay.

~

_The first time Baekhyun and Chanyeol slept together was the most awkward first night imaginable._

The night had started off rather quietly, very soft and slow, and Baekhyun had treasured it knowing it would be the only night of the week they’d have to themselves. Due to the insane schedule that awaited them they had been given the afternoon and night off to stay at the hotel to relax in preparation for all the crazy they were about to go through.

As usual now, Baekhyun was sharing a room with Chanyeol, and although they had spent their afternoon hanging around with Sehun and Jongdae, watching a movie before going out for dinner with all the members, they desperately wanted to spend the night together with just the two of them.

Soon enough they’d be too busy to spend a lot of time together, and seen as Baekhyun knew himself he was also sure that whenever they’d get back from their schedules to wherever they’d sleep for the night, he’d be off the second his head would hit the pillow. Unless they had a performance late at night, because those always kept Baekhyun up till the early hours of the morning, unlike Chanyeol. When it came to sleep they were kind of opposites.

Chanyeol’s chest was pressed against his back, his hand in Baekhyun’s hair as the shorter lay aligned with his body. They were watching their second movie of the day, but neither of them was paying attention to the storyline much. Baekhyun was way too distracted by the way Chanyeol’s fingers massaged his scalp with one hand while the other rested limply on his hip.

Baekhyun’s eyes drooped, even though he didn’t actually feel sleepy, and he sagged against his boyfriend a little more. Chanyeol chuckled dryly as he dropped a kiss to Baekhyun’s head, not feeling awkward about this whatsoever.

It was quite surprising how out of the two of them Chanyeol had been the one to act so natural in this relationship. From the very first date he had been the rational one, having them take steps when he felt they were ready. Baekhyun hadn’t expected for him to be the one to take the lead, to be the one to initiate things, but his boyfriend had surprised him with that.

It was nice though, the way Chanyeol always showed him how sure he was about what they had. There was never an ounce of doubt in his actions, because he always treated Baekhyun so lovingly, and what was still most surprising about them dating was how almost nothing had changed.

It had been a weird thing to realise, how they had basically loved each other already even before they had started dating, how the only thing that changed was the amount of kisses and the way he was now allowed to touch Chanyeol in ways no one else got to.

Hardly anything had changed, and yet everything had, because Baekhyun had lost the weight that had been on his shoulders. Before he got together with Chanyeol, he hadn’t been sure what that weight had been linked to, but now that he allowed himself to be with his best friend, allowed himself to truly be the person he longed to be, it made sense to him.

He had been running from the truth for so long, he had run and tried to wear a mask to prevent himself from seeing what was right in front of him, and that had kept him down.

It wasn’t as if Baekhyun hadn’t been aware of how he was, without a doubt, attracted to guys. It hadn’t been the sudden startling realisation that he was bisexual that had changed everything, but it was how his eyes had opened to Chanyeol being the guy his heart desired.

Sure, Baekhyun hadn’t exactly been stupid, he had been thinking things he shouldn’t have about the guy for nearly two years already. Even once he had started dating Taeyeon those thoughts hadn’t really left, and that should have been a warning sign from the start, but Baekhyun came to realise the truth only much, much later.

Yet that relationship with Taeyeon, which had kept him occupied for so damn long with its countless break ups and get togethers, had been exactly what he had needed to finally understand what he truly wanted. It had made him realise that he needed Chanyeol in his life more than anything, and that those thoughts he had had weren’t just him thinking of his best friend. They were him thinking of a lover, because the want to kiss and to touch, to be close to him, those things had stayed even as Baekhyun had gotten himself a girlfriend.

He had wanted so badly to be the first thing Chanyeol would think of in the morning when he woke up, and even more so to be the one he thought of before going to bed. He wanted to be the dirty fantasy, the name he moaned as he touched himself. He wanted to be the one person Chanyeol would imagine his future with.

At first Baekhyun had thought that it was just his ego which had made him think that. That he wanted everyone close to him to find him worthy, and so he had stayed with Taeyeon like some damn masochist never in touch with why it made him hurt so much. Until it had just made sense one day.

Still, Baekhyun’s sexual desires around Chanyeol had been pretty limited so far. Not that those thoughts weren’t there, but more that he had felt a little strange getting off on the thought of sleeping with his best friend, back before they had gotten together that was. So he had tried not to, especially not when he had been together with Taeyeon, because letting the wrong name slip can be catastrophic, you know.

They had done stuff together, him and Chanyeol, sure, Baekhyun wasn’t that ashamed that he had turned into a blushing virgin, but so far it had always felt natural and Baekhyun had never been worried about being any good. However, that night, when Chanyeol’s hands started to wander, Baekhyun felt different, anxious.

As fingers tickled his pelvis, right where his shirt ended, Baekhyun’s heartbeat tripled from the simple touch. His breathing went a little rigid too, as he felt a pair of lips at the back of his neck alongside the touch, and he really hoped that Chanyeol wouldn’t take his nerves the wrong way and think he didn’t want this.

It was just a lot to take in, the hand in his hair, the lips at his neck and the barely-there touch against his stomach. All that he needed now was-, “oh god,” Baekhyun breathed out as he got just that: Chanyeol’s hips aligned with his, pressing right up against his ass.

Baekhyun’s cheeks had flushed bright red whenever Chanyeol would make hid advances on his, but right now he saw sure that it was literally all of him was on fire. He wanted so desperately to hide his face until the embarrassment had worn off, which it would once Baekhyun would really start to feel that yearning for more. Right now, though, all he wanted was for the earth to swallow him whole.

It was only the uncertainty of what was alright to do and what wasn’t what made it awkward. The question whether it was alright to cross a certain line as well as the expectations of that, those were the reasons for his nerves.  

Baekhyun vividly remembered the first time he gave head and how Chanyeol had thought it would only be a handjob with some tongue action, which had caused him to buck up at the wrong time and had left Baekhyun gagging. Since then, Chanyeol always asked what he could expect and he had always told Baekhyun what he wanted, simply so both of them knew where things were leading.

Baekhyun had been waiting for a while now, expecting to be asked to take the next step every time Chanyeol would turn his kisses more purposeful, intentional. However, they always got stuck somewhere between the third and fourth base, without fail. It wasn’t like Baekhyun wasn’t ready for it, he figured maybe Chanyeol was the one that wasn’t ready, and so he’d wait, but he had thought about it.

He had thought about ways to show his boyfriend that he wanted him to take it further, had tried to let him know every time they’d be ridding themselves of their clothes, but somehow he had always choked up. The words had never come out in fear that Chanyeol would for some reason not want him like that.

But this time, there was something entirely different about his boyfriend’s mood. It was so much softer, slower too, the way Chanyeol went about getting him aroused and worked up. The hand on his stomach only slightly moved down, resting right above where Baekhyun was starting to grow hard. It was nothing but a reminder, a pressure point that would be difficult to forget about, as Chanyeol turned his attention to Baekhyun’s neck instead.

The hand that been in Baekhyun’s hair moved to his arm, which helped his boyfriend to turn him in his arms slightly. Baekhyun got to look over his shoulder that way, and it left him able to see Chanyeol’s face with one eye.

The wanton expression he saw there, with need in Chanyeol’s eyes and his lips slightly parted as they left Baekhyun’s skin, it took away any doubt the smaller had about where this was headed.

He tried to turn himself a little farther, but the hand on his pelvis stopped him from doing so as well as the tiny shake of Chanyeol’s head told him not to. And so Baekhyun lay still, waiting for his boyfriend’s next move, and when that involved a separation of their bodies, he whined a little desperately.

Chanyeol tried to place himself between Baekhyun’s legs, but he almost stumbled as he did so because Baekhyun hadn’t seen it coming and therefore hadn’t made any room for him. Luckily his boyfriend managed to catch himself with his arms next to Baekhyun’s waist as the shorter held on to Chanyeol’s upper arms to help him regain his balance. Then he spread his legs a little wider to accommodate, laughing quietly as it broke the tense mood some.

His boyfriend dropped his head to Baekhyun’s shoulder, clearly a little embarrassed by how totally-not-smooth that move was, but to Baekhyun it felt exactly like something they had needed to snap out of it. The laughter died down quickly too, because embarrassed or not, Chanyeol wasn’t going to let this tiny hiccup stop him from making his lover lose his mind again.

His hips came down against Baekhyun’s in mid-laughter, which made him stop instantly, and Baekhyun briefly thought that if there was ever a time to be thankful for the early shower they had had, which had left them dressed in sweatpants, it was now. The soft fabric made it easier to rub up against each other, which was something Baekhyun found himself doing quite promptly.

It wasn’t nearly enough friction for his liking, of course it wasn’t, but he’d take it for now. He could feel Chanyeol’s puffs of air against his cheek as he breathed, all the while he was staring Baekhyun down. He wondered how it was possible that it was suddenly so hard to breathe, why his lungs had seemed to stop working without giving him another method to get in the needed oxygen.

To make matters worse, Chanyeol was letting out these tiny groans whenever Baekhyun moved along with him, surprising his boyfriend with his straight-forwardness, and as a punishment for that the taller locked lips with him.

With his mouth sealed by another pair of lips, it was even harder to breathe, and even with his eyes closed he could barely focus on inhaling through his nose enough to get his chest to fill with air. It wasn’t until he was close to passing out, because he was sure he would if they’d continue like this, that Chanyeol gave him a break. Or well, that depended on what could be called a break.

He gave Baekhyun a moment to gasp for air, a moment in which he paused his hips and focused on getting rid of both their shirts instead. It was like the quiet before the storm, and Baekhyun made sure to draw in as many breaths as he could before Chanyeol would inevitably return his touches and kisses.

Once Baekhyun’s chest was naked and he was panting beneath him, Chanyeol started leaving kisses that he peppered all over his skin, from his neck all the way down to his sweats. He nuzzled Baekhyun’s stomach there and he bit at a hipbone before he turned his face and pressed his cheek to his boyfriend’s skin.

“You don’t know how much I long for you. I keep dreaming about it,” Chanyeol whispered, barely audible, but Baekhyun caught it because he was meant to. To hear his boyfriend say it, out loud, it caused for his stomach to do somersaults, and Baekhyun raised a hand to place it in Chanyeol’s hair as a way to ground himself.

He brushed through it a couple of times before he softly tugged on the strands, trying to convey that he wanted to look at his boyfriend’s face as he replied with a quiet, “you can have me. I’m all yours.” He wasn’t sure if Chanyeol understood, if he could tell from Baekhyun’s face what he was saying, and he found out as the taller climbed back up his body that he hadn’t, because Chanyeol sent him a dejected smile.

“No, I mean, I _want_ you, all of you,” he tried again, as if Baekhyun had actually misunderstood him, “I- god, it’s humiliating to say but, I- I want to be like…” he watched Chanyeol swallow, struggling to say the words, but as he cupped his boyfriend’s face in his hands and forced him to meet his eyes, the words just dropped from his lips, “inside of you.”

They hadn’t discussed it. They hadn’t ever really talked about what they’d do once they’d get that far, who would top and who would bottom. Baekhyun hadn’t properly thought about where he had imagined himself the most, but it didn’t matter either, because as he heard Chanyeol say it, it made sense. Like it just fell into place.

Baekhyun reminded himself of how people did this every day, of how he had done his research so he knew what to expect and what to look out for. He knew it would hurt, he knew Chanyeol would be on the better end of it, but he also trusted his lover enough to take proper care of him and make sure he was comfortable before thinking about his own pleasure. And so Baekhyun found himself not minding the idea of bottoming at all.

“Oh, I-“ he stuttered as a bunch of images started to flood his mind, all leaving him shaking - in a good way -, and he had to look away before he could say, “alright. Okay, you can.”

There was a second where absolutely nothing happened. Where Chanyeol didn’t move and where Baekhyun found himself growing uncomfortable as he didn’t know what to do with himself, but then Chanyeol was kissing him so hard that it was almost bruising.

“Fuck,” Chanyeol replied, “fuck, you’re so- goddamn, Baekhyun,” he groaned between kisses, pecking his lips even when they grew tired of it. It sounded as if he had been about to say three little words, overwhelmed with this all, but Baekhyun was glad that hadn’t happened. It wouldn’t have been real that way, considering how they were both overcome with emotions right then.

“Yeah, yeah,” Baekhyun brought out breathlessly as he pushed at Chanyeol’s chest, “get whatever we need then and give me a second to prepare,” he rolled off the bed as his boyfriend gave him space and he walked off to the bathroom, in desperate need of a splash of cold water to the face. He knew it was anything but sexy, the way he was running off like that, but he really needed a moment to put himself in order.

As the door closed behind him, he quickly rid himself of his sweatpants before he washed up and stared at himself in the mirror. It was a little strange knowing he was about to let Chanyeol fuck him, Park Chanyeol, his boyfriend. He was about to go in there and give himself fully, and as he thought of this all he slowly inhaled before exhaling again, once more.

Honestly, if someone would ever ask him how he knew this was love, he’d say he knew due to the fact that his lungs gave up on him whenever he was with Chanyeol.

He slapped his own cheeks a few times, waking himself from the daze he felt like he was in, and then he stepped up to the door again. On the other side he’d find someone waiting for him, someone thirsting for him, and even with all the nerves coursing through his body, Baekhyun held on to the excitement he felt. Because as scary as it was, it was a new step in their relationship, something to bring them closer together.

So, as he opened the door to the bedroom, he tried to look as seductive as he possibly could, leaning against the doorpost when it had swung open fully. However, when he stared at the bed he found Chanyeol was sitting there naked, with his legs folded in front of him as he fumbled with a condom packet.

Baekhyun blinked, realising that he wasn’t even being watched in anticipation, and so he cleared his throat a little to make his presence known. It was slightly uneasy, having to demand his attention like that, but it worked for Chanyeol all but yelped and as his head shot up. It was cute, the way he got flustered, the condom falling from his fingers and onto the bed, because the second Chanyeol drank him in with his eyes, he froze.

Despite his uneasiness and uncertainty, Baekhyun walked into the room, taking careful steps back to the bed, but Chanyeol didn’t move until he was close enough to touch. Baekhyun came to a stop at the side of the bed, the side where Chanyeol was seated, and when he stopped moving and simply stood there, Chanyeol reached out his hand and grabbed onto one of Baekhyun’s hips.

The realisation of what they would be doing soon dawned upon both of them, and Baekhyun saw it the second Chanyeol realised what he was about to have. Something in his gaze turned darker and Baekhyun watched him swallow hard while the grip on his hip tightened at the same time.

“You’re beautiful,” Chanyeol whispered softly, and Baekhyun hummed in reply before he climbed onto the bed, sure that if he didn’t then he’d be standing there for another hour. The compliment left him red-faced and although it made him shy, Baekhyun reminded himself of how Chanyeol had done the work so far. He wanted to be bold himself, and so he took over from there.

He pushed Chanyeol down on the bed, hands on his chest as he did so, and strangled his hips by sitting on top of them. It brought their lower halves together like before, and although Baekhyun could do with some more rolling of his hips, he wanted more now. Chanyeol had promised him more, had made him have all these thoughts, and so he deserved as much.

“Couldn’t get it to open, huh?” Baekhyun chuckled as he sat back enough to pick up the condom that Chanyeol had dropped in shock a little before. He smiled as he looked at the way his boyfriend had tried to tear it open, and then he chuckled, “I’ll take care of it. Later, though, after you’ve properly prepped me. It’s my first time, I’m not letting you do anything without great preparation.”

Chanyeol huffed, offended by the suggestion that he wouldn’t do such a thing, and as he took a hold of Baekhyun’s hips and threw him back down on the mattress in an attempt to flip their positions, he smiled down at his lover, “of course I will. Who do you think I am, Baek? I wouldn’t dare hurt you.”

He said it so sweetly, and Baekhyun fully believed him, yet he couldn’t help but tease him a little more, “well, to answer that very serious question… I think you’re my tall, stunning but forgetful boyfriend, Park Chanyeol.” He smiled as he clamped his legs around his boyfriend’s waist, “so show me, then. Make me feel how badly you want to be inside of me.”

The words, which Baekhyun spoke so effortlessly, left Chanyeol stunned for a moment, but once he regained his composure he took the condom from Baekhyun’s hand and put it aside, swapping it for the bottle of lube instead. He popped the cap without looking, but the illusion of him being experienced at this died down quickly as he had to look down at where to press, after which he went applied too much of the lube, leaving it all very sticky.

Sticky or not, though, Baekhyun couldn’t help but smile because it was so them. It was so Chanyeol, the clumsiness and the need to get it right, and it was so Baekhyun to fuss about getting on his knees to make it all easier on himself, all because he couldn’t watch his boyfriend that way.

It was anything but a smooth first time, anything but the best sex he had ever had, but in a way that was what made it better than anything he had experienced before.

Because being in it together, messing up and learning together, it made them that much closer. It was a process, getting to know each other’s hearts and bodies, figuring out what worked and what didn’t, but they were both open to that. Neither of them felt dissatisfied as they ended up falling down next to each other feeling sweaty and sore, and that was what mattered instead.

Afterwards, Chanyeol took his hand and kept pressing kisses to his knuckles and his palm, this never-fading smile gracing his lips, and Baekhyun could finally breathe again as he came down from his high. The loving look that had been in his boyfriend’s eyes before was still there, only intensified, and Baekhyun’s heart swelled in his chest.

And later, once he’d try to walk to the bathroom, he’d curse the guy, stating, “fuck, why did we do this now, when we have a tough ass schedule tomorrow?” But for now, things were soft and fuzzy at the edges. Life was pink blossom, it was warm arms and soft lips, and Baekhyun wanted to float on the clouds and see where they’d take him. His best bet was paradise, because that’s what it felt like.

~

_The first time Chanyeol and Baekhyun had a fight, it was because of jealousy, and because the both of them were being way too stubborn._

"Why didn't you tell me you were still in touch with her?!" Chanyeol all but screamed at him, his voice loud and echoing through the room. The intensity of it made Baekhyun almost roll out of bed, having had his eyes closed before Chanyeol walked in on him, and he barely managed to pull his heart back into his chest.

Chanyeol was right next to his bed, looking pretty much more afraid than he looked angry, as he stood in front of Baekhyun with the boy's phone in hand. Baekhyun himself, who had been blissfully chilling on his bed with a facemask on, eyed his boyfriend from where he was seated. He hadn’t actually needed to open his eyes to tell which expression would be visible on his face, the only reason Baekhyun did was so he could glare at him.

Sure enough, Chanyeol was staring at him with this intensely questioning gaze, but along with that Baekhyun spotted a flicker of fear burning behind the fire. His boyfriend could be overwhelming, sometimes it was a lot to deal with, and Baekhyun knew he was like that too, but at least when he created drama, chances were it wasn’t actually serious. Chanyeol wasn’t like that.

The fact that he was standing there, confronting Baekhyun about whatever he was upset about, it meant this was something important. Chanyeol didn’t waste time and emotions on petty things. He could, but he never really did, and as Baekhyun thought of all of this instead of answering him, the light in Chanyeol’s eyes had slowly started dimming.

If only he knew what his boyfriend was referring to.

"Yeol, what are you on about?" Baekhyun finally got himself out of his head as he pushed himself upright, groaning some at his sore muscles, which were a cruel result of the long hours of dance practice the day before. He had taken some extra classes to improve his footwork with his eye on the upcoming comeback, and even though it had been a great choice for EXO’s Baekhyun, the downsides were that private Baekhyun got to see Chanyeol less than usual, and on top of that his body felt like it had been run over by a truck more often than it did not.

His boyfriend, who seemed ticked off by the question he had asked, huffed at him as if it should have been clear as day. It was why he pushed the phone in Baekhyun's face, up too close to see anything at all, but with his hand that near Baekhyun could tell that Chanyeol was trembling slightly. "Don't play dumb” his boyfriend ordered, “I’m talking about Taeyeon, of course."

As Baekhyun took his phone from the outstretched hand in front of him, he saw he had a new notification on his phone’s lock screen, a text message from his ex-girlfriend stating 'it was nice seeing you again, B'.

He had left his phone in the lounge to charge and as a way to really get some well needed rest, rather than him ending up stressed over anything social media related. He hadn’t thought anything of it, hadn’t worried about anyone seeing, but maybe he should have.

To his surprise, Chanyeol hadn't actually opened the conversation, he had only seen it come in, and without the context of what had happened, Baekhyun understood that it could look like a lot more than it really was.

"Oh," he raised his eyebrows at his screen before he smiled up at his boyfriend, hoping to sound as reassuring as he was trying to be, "it's okay. I bumped into her yesterday at the studio after practice was over. She was there to practice too, we only talked for a little."

"Well this message sure sounds like she wants more from you, though," Chanyeol told him, sounding absolutely disbelieving, and Baekhyun blinked up at him as the tall idiot crossed his arms in front of his chest. It was almost a little funny to watch him stand there like that, because he had never before seen Chanyeol get jealous. However, he knew that laughter wasn't the solution right now.

"I don't know, maybe,” he shrugged, “It doesn't matter whether she wants more or not, though, because I don't want to get back together with her," Baekhyun said this even though he felt like Chanyeol should have already known. Clearly Baekhyun's heart was his now, otherwise they wouldn't be dating, but it wasn't all that easy.

Just like Baekhyun had certain insecurities, Chanyeol had his own too, and this seemed to be one of them. The fear that Baekhyun wasn't sure about them, the fear that Baekhyun would run back to Taeyeon if he was given the chance, it came through so clearly in those eyes. And so Baekhyun forced himself to understand.

"Yeol, I'm with you, I’m your boyfriend, but she doesn't know that now, does she?” he tried to throw him a different argument instead. “If she knew we were together, she wouldn't be sending me such a suggestive message, I’m sure, but we’re a secret so what do you expect?" Baekhyun added when his boyfriend stayed quiet, his jaw set as he looked down at the floor.

He could tell that Chanyeol wasn't ready to give in and accept defeat, that he wasn’t entirely convinced by Baekhyun's words, all from the way his voice went soft and sad as he commented, "yeah, I get that, but does that mean you still talk to her then? She didn't just send it out of nowhere, did she?"

"No," Baekhyun agreed to that, "of course I still talk to her from time to time. She's not just my ex-girlfriend, she's a colleague too. But really, Chanyeol, if that's really that much of an issue, then what does that say about us?" He left the question hanging in the air for a little while, but his boyfriend didn't answer, so he did. "It shows how you don't trust me. It shows how you think I'm not in this with all my heart, that I don’t want you as much as I truly do."

Chanyeol balled his hands into fists at his sides as he listened to Baekhyun speak and he definitely looked like he wanted to punch something, but there was nothing around to hit. Nothing but Baekhyun, and Chanyeol wouldn’t. He would never.

So without anything to phycially hurt, Chanyeol turned to words, which were his forte. His voice was loud and laced with a tinge of anger now as he addressed Baekhyun again, "that's not true! It’s easy, for you to say that this is my issue, but just in case you forgot, I was around to watch that cat and mouse game for the fifteen torturous months that it lasted."

"How often did you break up and get together again?" He went on, throwing punch after imaginary punch Baekhyun’s way, "I think my two hands aren't enough to count on. So I'm sorry for being a dick and confronting you like this, but I refuse to be a rebound that gets you to see how she's all you ever wanted only so you can run off and get back with her."

Baekhyun had tried to be patient. He had tried to be thoughtful and to remember how he had a history with this girl that made it understandable for Chanyeol to worry to some extent, but this, this beat everything.

He hadn't been this angry in a long time, at least he didn't remember when he last felt this rumbling thunder in his chest that was so loud he could hear it even in his ears. He pulled the stupid face mask off his skin, needing the slightly cool feeling of the air against his damp cheeks to calm him down some. But it was pointless.

"Fuck you," he spat out, fire bubbling in his stomach, "that was low. Not to mention it completely confirmed what I said barely a minute ago. Because clearly you _don't_ trust me. You think I'm treating our relationship half-heartedly, so fuck you Park Chanyeol."

Baekhyun balled up the used face mask in his hand and pushed himself off the bed. He had wanted to spend his time off regaining some strength and he had hoped that, and suspected, maybe that would have included some cuddling. However, now he realised that there would be none of that tonight. Nor would there be any tomorrow, probably.

He was in his own room, but he no longer wanted to stay there with Chanyeol, and so he moved past his boyfriend when he wasn’t expecting it. Their shoulders bumped together, but Chanyeol didn't stop him from leaving even when he could have. He just stood there, body frozen as if he was still taking in Baekhyun's words, as the other dropped his face mask in the bin and threw open the door.

Jongdae was in the kitchen when he got there, and he sent Baekhyun a questioning glance as the boy stomped in and got himself a cold drink from the fridge. When Baekhyun didn't say anything to clarify his mood, only slammed the fridge door shut in the hope his friend would understand he wasn’t in the mood, Jongdae exclaimed a loud, "hey!"

He stopped cutting whatever the hell he was cutting on his little chopping board and turned to Baekhyun, "you're slamming doors and looking like someone stole your favourite toy. What's going on?" The joking tone of his voice did nothing to brighten Baekhyun's mood.

He huffed in annoyance and shrugged his shoulders as he put the bottle to his lips. Standing there, he took a few large gulps, until his eyes were tearing, before he brought it back down again.

 "Don't look at me like that. Park is a fucking idiot, he deserves it," Baekhyun eventually threw at him, and Jongdae stood there a little helplessly, knife in hand as he blinked at Baekhyun with this innocent smile still on his face.

It wasn't fair on him for Baekhyun to respond in such a way, but he couldn't help it, the anger hadn't died down yet. Knowing how much of an asshole he was being, though, Baekhyun walked off before he could say anything else. He decided he would apologise to Jongdae later, once he had calmed down enough to think straight again.

In the lounge, where his charger’s cable was still plugged into the power socket, were only two members, luckily. Kyungsoo, being one of those two, only briefly looked up at Baekhyun as he was focused on his tablet, earplugs in, but one glance at Baekhyun told him enough that he didn't dare ask. He was smart like that, and Baekhyun liked Kyungsoo for it.

Sehun, however, who was the second member present, was often a very different case. He could be as blind as a bat when it came to people’s emotions, just like Chanyeol, and Baekhyun really wasn't ready for him to ask about their relationship issues. Especially not with Kyungsoo in the same room.

Luckily for him, Sehun appeared to be lost in his own world, his laptop on his lap and huge headphones covering his ears. Even when Baekhyun flopped down in between the two of them, sighing loudly, neither of them commented or made a sound. At least there was that.

Kyungsoo shuffled some, leaning towards Baekhyun as he unmistakably offered his shoulder for his friend to rest on, and Baekhyun gladly took the offer. He dropped his head and looked at Kyungsoo's screen, sideways. On it was a movie Baekhyun hadn't seen before, because he really didn't watch that many, but Kyungsoo, with his aspirations to do more acting, was always watching things to pick up new tricks and tactics. As he was doing now.

Wordlessly his fingers moved across the screen, pausing the movie for a moment so he could turn on the subtitles for Baekhyun to read along to. It was such a small, sweet gesture, and even though Kyungsoo didn't offer one of his plugs so he could listen as well, Baekhyun was aware of how this was plenty of charity from his brooding friend.

He watched that movie until he began feeling drowsy, and then he fell asleep, his head still resting on Kyungsoo's shoulder. Suck on that, Park Chanyeol.

 

~

_The first time Chanyeol said ‘I love you’ was when Baekhyun's face was smeared with tomato sauce._

They had had their argument two days prior, after which Baekhyun had made it his job to ignore his boyfriend as much as possible. Sure, during their combined practices and fan meetings they talked, but the second they were alone again they would go back to ignoring each other. Or, mostly it was Baekhyun ignoring Chanyeol, because Chanyeol still felt like he hadn’t done anything wrong.

The anger came back every time he saw his boyfriend's stupid face. Each and every time he'd look at him, Baekhyun would remember the harsh words he'd spoken. He’d recall the distrust in them, and it would make him angry all over again.

It was especially infuriating because Chanyeol hadn't done anything to apologise either, and he acted as if everything he had said had been rightfully assumed so, and so they ended up pretending the other didn't exist. Even though Baekhyun missed his idiot dearly.

He realised soon enough how dependant he had become on Chanyeol. The boy had sneaked his way into Baekhyun’s every day in so many ways. Like how he had always been there to give Baekhyun a short shoulder massage right before going on stage, something of which he didn't even realise how badly he needed it until they were no longer there.

He had always been there to complain to, to joke around with as well as to rest against when Baekhyun was tired. He missed having him be part of his day, to ride that wave of excitement with whenever they’d do something fun or thrilling. Just making memories together was what Baekhyun enjoyed the most.

They had grown so close once they had started dating that not having Chanyeol around like that made Baekhyun feel extremely lonely. It was almost as if they had actually broken up rather than just fight. However, the frustration wasn't enough yet to make him change his mind. Chanyeol was undeniably in the wrong and until he would realise that, this relationship would be going nowhere.

And so they gave each other the cold shoulder, acting as if they weren't that close at all, and the others were starting to worry about it. They hadn’t showed it at first, it had been subtle enough to ignore, but things were starting to get out of control.

For instance, Sehun had been trying to corner him for days now, but Baekhyun knew that would result in questions about Chanyeol and he refused to deal with those. It wasn’t just Sehun anymore, though, and Baekhyun knew time was running out for them.

He was playing a tiring game, one he knew sooner or later would lead to him driving himself into a corner as he lost his focus. Baekhyun would have to stop running and face his fate, whether fate would be cruel or kind. It was bound to happen, that inevitable crash would happen no matter what, and he just wished it could have been a different moment, any other moment than at dinner time.

After the pizza arrived, Baekhyun had taken his own and darted off to hide from the rest of the group, finding his own little practice room to sit in. He liked it like that, did it whenever he needed a moment alone, which had been more frequently lately. However, he hadn't noticed how Sehun had watched him go and had actually followed him to see where he'd go.

Then, as Baekhyun was onto his second slice of pizza, eating it quickly so he could return before anyone would come look for him, the door opened and a startled looking Chanyeol was pushed inside. He was spluttering as he did so, but the person behind him was clearly too strong for him.

The door fell shut, causing the room to fall into silence as Chanyeol stared at it. Baekhyun watched his back, unable to stop the feeling that his boyfriend didn't want to be there with him, and although he had partly caused that himself, it still hurt.

His boyfriend tried the handle, but the door wouldn't budge. "Goddamn, Sehun, Kyungsoo, I'll get back at you for that," he yelled through the door before he gave up and turned around, his back hitting the wood. And then, for the first time in two days, Chanyeol and Baekhyun were properly looking at each other again.

To Baekhyun's surprise there was no anger in his boyfriend's eyes, only a sadness he hadn't noticed there before. Maybe he had been too caught up in his determination to ignore the taller that he hadn't seen how Chanyeol wasn't at all happy about this. Or maybe Chanyeol was as good at hiding as he was.

With a sigh his boyfriend pushed himself away from the door and sat himself down on the ground next to Baekhyun. He looked at his legs as he folded them beneath him, his fingers playing with a stray thread in his jeans as he avoided Baekhyun’s eyes. He looked small that way, small and insecure in a way Baekhyun had only seen him a few times before.

It made him want to apologise, the guilt suddenly overwhelming him and making it hard to breathe. As he put his slice of pizza down on the plate, he planned on doing precisely that.

"I'm sorry," Chanyeol said first, beating Baekhyun to it once again. He was either really good at reading his boyfriend and purposely planning to be the first to speak, or they were just too much alike.

Baekhyun sat there while he listened to the apology, his mouth hanging slightly open as he had been ready to speak up. He shut it slowly, eyes on Chanyeol, who thought the floor was a much more interesting place to direct his words at than Baekhyun's face was.

"I'm sorry for being a jealous asshole that gave you the idea that I think you don't care enough. I don't think that at all, but I let my frustration get the best of me and that wasn't fair of me," Chanyeol explained, not even looking up at him once.

Baekhyun sighed quietly, but not in frustration this time. He wondered how they had gotten there, how they had let their pride stand in the way of their relationship so much. It took some getting used to being in a relationship, let alone a well-functioning one, and this was their first lesson learned: in fights, put aside your pride and be honest with each other. Listen and be honest.

"I'm sorry too," Baekhyun finally managed to croak out. His eyes were on Chanyeol's face, which then tilted upwards, his expression one of shock. Maybe he hadn't expected to hear it, or maybe he hadn't expected for Baekhyun to forgive him so easily. "I know that it's hard on you, my history with Taeyeon, and I could have been more understanding of that."

"No," Chanyeol shook his head, showing Baekhyun that he really thought he was the only one to blame for this, "I should have known better. I should have thought how you're with me and you're not the type to cheat, so I was wrong. I should have put my trust in you. "

Baekhyun chuckled and reached over to poke Chanyeol's leg. It was the first physical contact since their fight. "Alright,” he hummed then, “so maybe we were both stupid and both had our points, let's settle on that."

Chanyeol smiled softly, surprising Baekhyun once more, and then he nodded, "yeah, okay. And I'm okay with you talking to her, you know. You don't have to stop that for me at all. Just in case you were thinking that."

"Really?" Baekhyun hadn't seen that coming, at all, "why? Did you decide to trust me?" He asked, eyebrows raised at Chanyeol as his lips curled into a smile. It made Chanyeol roll his eyes at him, acting as if he was annoyed with it when clearly he wasn’t.

"Yes, I did," he confirmed, "but more importantly, I miss you. I've missed you, and I don't want to. I can worry about her and keep this tension between us, but that would just as much push us apart as she could if my worries were justified."

Baekhyun watched his boyfriend as he licked his thumb and then leaned in, pressing it to the corner of Baekhyun's mouth. He rubbed at the skin there, as if getting something off, and Baekhyun stayed still as he stared at the gorgeous man in front of him. And then he became even more beautiful by uttering these words that made Baekhyun's heart stop beating for a split second.

"Sorry, you had some tomato sauce on your face," he apologised for his sudden move, after which he immediately said, without pausing another beat, "anyway, I realised that I love you too much to let you go just because of my own stupid jealousy.”

Baekhyun was about to splutter a reply to Chanyeol’s use of words to make this clear, but he was stopped with his mouth hanging open again, “yes, you heard that right: I'm in love with you,” Chanyeol confirmed. As if he knew what Baekhyun had been ready to comment.

From the stupid tomato sauce on his face to the distance between their bodies, this so wasn’t the moment he had hoped for. He had imagined it, hearing Chanyeol whisper those words to him as they were tangled up in each other’s arms, skin against skin. Or maybe during a performance, a private one, he could have admired Baekhyun’s hard work and let those words slip.

This, this strange stage between being broken and fixed, with Baekhyun a sweaty and dirty food-stained mess, had not been in any of those dreams. It made him want to hit Chanyeol, made him want to throw a fit for how this totally wasn’t romantic at all, but then he saw the way his boyfriend was smiling at him and he shut up.

It may not be the moment Baekhyun had wished for, not the grand confession that the dramas often portrayed, but he could see the sincerity of Chanyeol’s words in his smile, he could feel the love in the way he softly took a hold of Baekhyun’s hand in his. Chanyeol had genuinely meant them, not as a way to get his boyfriend to make up with him, like Taeyeon had sometimes done, which only made Baekhyun lose his tongue even more.

He watched Chanyeol’s nervous face, felt the way his hands were slightly trembling, and he realised then that his boyfriend was actually worried about him not returning the same words to him. Did he not know Baekhyun? Since when was Baekhyun ever shy about his feelings? He had been until he had gotten together with Chanyeol, but after that moment he had always been upfront about his feelings.

The same way he was now.

Baekhyun squeezed Chanyeol’s hand in his before tugging on the taller’s arm to get him to move. As Chanyeol bent down, caused by the tugging, Baekhyun pushed himself up as far as he could until their lips met in a kiss. It was a harsh kiss that was soft at the same time, no rush to it as they both revelled in the feeling they had missed for days now.

He knew it wouldn’t be enough, knew he’d have to say the words for Chanyeol to really understand, but right now Baekhyun kind of just wanted to pull him in closer and hold on to him for as long as possible, making up for all their lost time. He was certain now that they had something worth fighting for, something to hold on to whenever things would be rough.

“I’m in love with you too.”

 

~  
_The first time Baekhyun and Chanyeol came out to the members, they weren't actually the first couple to do so._

The award for ‘first exo couple gone official’ went to Kyungsoo and Jongin, even though it hadn't really been their plan to come out to the rest of the group the way they had. They got caught, though, caught making out in the dressing room during a break at one of their rehearsals.

Kyungsoo was sitting on Jongin's lap, his arms wrapped around the dancer's neck as he positively dominated the kiss they were in when Baekhyun, Sehun and Yixing had found them there.

In all honestly, it was still a thousand times better than having all seven of them walk in, because that would have surely resulted in total chaos, but still it was quite a mess. Mostly because all of their responses to seeing the pair were so different.

For one, Baekhyun himself hadn't actually been surprised at all, just shocked to find them without having been aware their relationship had progressed this far so soon. He knew about it some because Chanyeol had told him about Kyungsoo's feelings back when they first got together, so he was somewhat aware of the tension between the two, but to see it right in front of his face was another thing.

Yixing looked confused more than anything, his eyebrows furrowed together and his mouth drooping open. He pulled that face quite often, so it wasn't exactly new for him, but it was still funny to look at, especially in contrast to Sehun, who was standing right next to him and looking all but puzzled.

Because Sehun, their sly maknae, was a drama queen more than anything. He had made a big deal of it when he had found out about Baekhyun and Chanyeol, wanting to know everything there was to know about them, and now he had found out there was a second EXO couple that drama queen came out at full force again.

"Holy fucking shit!" He cursed, gaping at Kyungsoo and Jongin pretty much in the same way as Yixing was, but there was a glint in his eyes that told Baekhyun how his friend was already planning how to break this news to the others. He hadn’t done so after he found out about Baekhyun and Chanyeol, but something about this all made it different.

Maybe it was because it was Kyungsoo, who was pretty introverted and never flirted with anyone ever, or maybe it was the fact that there were two couples within their group now, but he looked like he was about to dart off and spill the news to everyone. Luckily for both Kyungsoo _and_ Baekhyung, he didn’t do so.

Kyungsoo was off and away from Jongin within seconds, and he stood a step or two in front of him, wiping his mouth with one hand while he fixed his shirt with the other. A faint blush rose up on his cheeks as he did, something which was quite unusual for the guy. He looked absolutely ashamed of himself, and clearly the fact that he couldn't talk himself out of this was new to him.

It was pretty clear that Kyungsoo didn't know what to do with himself now, but his posture showed how he wanted to flee rather than give in and admit to what was going on. Jongin on the other hand, looked damned pleased with himself, which was funny in a way too. It was amusing because it felt more like they were looking at Kai, the stage persona that changed Jongin into a performer without his usual shyness, than at the Jongin they knew. Apparently Kyungsoo brought that out in him.

"Did my eyes really just see that?" Sehun blurted out next, and he stepped further into the room, towards Kyungsoo, who was starting to look more nervous and even redder the closer Sehun got to him. "Were you," Sehun spoke word for word, grinning like the Cheshire cat, "making out? With Jongin? Or, did you just slip and fall into his lap, with your faces smashing together?"

Baekhyun was kind of relieved to find the tone of the conversation was playful rather than mean. There was no screaming, no anger or disgust in Sehun's words, and of course that hadn’t been there once he found out about Baekhyun and Chanyeol either, but he felt like Kyungsoo could have dealt with that even less. Teasing Kyungsoo could deal with, he was already used to that from Sehun anyway, but hatred...

"I-" Kyungsoo stuttered, looking for words as his eyes darted around the room as if the answers to his questions were written on the walls. However, he didn’t get a chance to find them, for Jongin interrupted him by admitting to what they had already seen happening anyway, "yeah, he was. Do you have a problem with that, Sehun?"

Baekhyun watched as Jongin straightened himself in his seat and pushed himself to sit at the front of the chair so he could reach out and take Kyungsoo's hand, which the boy had been holding behind his back timidly. Kyungsoo’s first instinct was to pull free, Baekhyun could see it, but then he stopped himself from doing so and held on to Jongin a little tigher.

“Holy shit, I mean, Baekhyun and Chanyeol I saw coming but this…” Sehun laughed, clapping his hands together as he did, and next to him Yixing woke up from his daze.

“Wait, what?” He asked, his eyes now on Baekhyun, and it took a second for Baekhyun to realise that he had just been outed by Sehun. Not only Kyungsoo and Jongin had been put on display but him and Chanyeol as well, and suddenly all hell broke loose.

Yixing stared at all of them, confused by everything that was happening, and then he took off like he had fire licking his heels. One second he was there and the next he was not, running down the corridor as he screamed while he ran, “I don’t understand what’s going on!”

Baekhyun and Kyungsoo were right behind him instantly, knowing that if he’d make it to the others they would be dead. Baekhyun was slightly faster, but yixing had a stamina neither of the small boys had. They tried to grab a hold of their friend, to stop him before he’d spill the truth to everyone, but he slipped away every time.

“Someone wake me up! This has to be a dream!” Yixing screamed as he reached the stage where the rest of the members had already returned, knowing the end of their break was near. And that was the end of it.

Junmyeon was the first to look up as he heard three pairs of feet running around, but soon after that all the others looked up as well. Baekhyun locked eyes with Chanyeol for a second as he came to a stop a few steps behind Yixing. His boyfriend didn’t seem to understand the look Baekhyun was trying to send him, but a lot of time to try and get the message across he didn’t have, because their goal was still to get Yixing to keep quiet.

Sliding into place next to a heavily breathing Yixing, Baekhyun wrapped an arm around his friend’s waist and smiled, “hah, just joking around guys. We pulled a prank on him, isn’t that right, Lay?” He squeezed lightly, begging his friend not to say anything that way, but he should have known better than to think he would understand.

Yixing pushed him aside, stating, “don’t do that!” He leaned over slightly, hands on his knees for a moment before he walked up to Junmyeon and grabbed his upper arm, “hyung, it wasn’t a prank. I- we walked in on Kyungsoo and Jongin making out,” he spilled, and Baekhyun could feel said friend freeze behind him.

When he looked at him he saw how the stern, emotionless glance was back on his friend’s face, and Baekhyun didn’t want to see that. He didn’t want Kyungsoo to suffer through this alone, whatever their reactions would be, and so he sighed and sacrificed himself for the greater good. After all, Kyungsoo had helped him and Chanyeol a great deal.  

With his eyes cast up at the ceiling he interrupted whatever Yixing had been about to say, “so what, Yixing? Chanyeol and I have been dating for two months now and you never noticed anything. You can’t possibly be making a big deal out of this when before you didn’t even know.”

It was out. Baekhyun had said it, he had confessed to being with Chanyeol, and he heard his boyfriend splutter in the back as the guy realised what he had done. However, what was louder than Chanyeol’s spluttering was Yixing’s reply, which he threw at Baekhyun with angry eyes, “what? I’m not- I mean, of course I’m making a big deal out of this. How can you not see why? We’re all supposed to be brothers, so why would we not have the right to know when it literally affects us all?”

“Well,” Baekhyun threw back, “what do you expect? For us to just tell you and accept the judgement to be thrown our way? To have the group fall apart for a relationship that’s so new and fragile and might not work out?” he raised his hands, “I’m sorry but I didn’t want to be responsible for that. I wanted to be sure about Chanyeol before saying anything.”

“Fall apart?” Junmyeon pushed Yixing out of the way so he could come face to face with Baekhyun, standing in between the two as if he was scared they would attack each other, “who said anything about the group falling apart?” he demanded, looking between the two of them, after which he eventually settled on Yixing and asked him, “do you have an issue with two of your friends dating each other?”

Yixing looked taken aback by the question, he even took an actual step backwards, and his eyes flitted back to Baekhyun in a sudden understanding. “You thought I-?” he didn’t finish his question, went on to the next, “no, that’s not- god, did you really believe I’d judge my friends? It’s not about- about that.” He was stuttering all the way through it but his voice was strong and powerful, leaving no space for doubt.

Baekhyun relaxed slowly as he saw the honest expression on Yixing’s face, believing him instantly, and he felt slightly guilty for having thought that his friend wouldn’t approve of them, but the way he responded made it so difficult to understand exactly why this was an issue for him.

“So,” Chanyeol barged in while he walked over to Baekhyun, “you’re only making a fuss now because of the fact that we didn’t instantly exclaim our love to the whole world?”

As he wrapped an arm around Baekhyun’s shoulders and pulled him in, Yixing watched the two of them standing together. As Baekhyun’s arms snaked around his boyfriend’s waist he seemed to understand, as if it clicked.

When Yixing started moving again almost everyone in the room held their breaths, wondering what would happen, but since Junmyeon let him go, Baekhyun was certain it wouldn’t be bad. Their friend walked up to them and stopped a foot away, where he bowed politely and muttered a barely audible, “I’m sorry for having made you think that. I’m sorry if any of us have ever made you worry about our acceptance. I also think no matter what our personal views are, speaking for the other members, we should always respect each other. If you are happy, I am happy, and I always will be.”

Baekhyun understood what he was saying too, he really did. They were friends, yes, but apart from that they were also colleagues. Even if any of the members didn’t agree with their relationship, they should still be professional when it came to work. EXO was EXO and it would stay that way for at least a few years longer.

Then, once he was finished talking, Yixing straightened himself and took the final steps to get to where Chanyeol and Baekhyun were standing. He opened up his arms and wrapped them around the couple in front of him, squeezing the three of them even tighter together. It made Chanyeol laugh, although quietly, but Baekhyun was still too shaken up to respond that lightly.

When Yixing stepped back again, Baekhyun took in the rest of the members, who were all smiling at them fondly. It was good to see, because it showed him how there was no bad blood between them. If anyone hadn’t agreed with Yixing’s words they would have spoken up already. And so that was it.

“Kyungsoo?” Junmyeon asked once some time had passed, and Chanyeol twisted the two of them in such a way that they could watch the friend who had been the cause of this all. Well, together with Jongin of course. “Do you want to say something? Is it- is it true what Yixing said?” Junmyeon went on carefully, knowing that Kyungsoo could very well explode if they said the wrong thing, he was like a ticking time bomb.

EXO’s shortest member looked defeated, though. With his shoulders dropped and his head hung low, he looked anything but angry. He stayed quiet for so long that everyone thought he wouldn’t end up talking at all, but then they saw Sehun and Jongin come their way.

They had taken their sweet time too, why Baekhyun didn’t know, but the second Jongin took in Kyungsoo’s posture he quickened his pace and stopped next to him. Seeing the seriousness on the others’ faces, Jongin clearly knew what this was about, and all he did this time around was take Kyungsoo’s hand and hold it. Baekhyun watched him squeeze in support, a squeeze that said ‘whatever you do, I’m here, I’ll leave it up to you’, and it made Kyungsoo slowly raise his head.

As he gazed up at the boy he had kissed, Baekhyun could easily see the love in his eyes. It was a miracle how he hadn’t noticed it before, how Jongin himself hadn’t noticed it before either, because it was so obvious now. And the way Jongin smiled back, so soft and supportive, it didn’t come as a surprise that Kyungsoo folded his cards and accepted defeat right then and there.

“I- uh, I’ve been in love with Jongin for a while now, even before Chanyeol fell for Baekhyun, but until they got together I never had the guts to do anything about it,” Kyungsoo admitted, “so yeah, I knew about them, and it got me to confess to Jongin, something I don’t regret. I would appreciate it if none of you make this any bigger than it is, though.”

He gave a courteous nod to signal he was done talking, with his cheeks tainted red again, and Baekhyun pressed his smile into Chanyeol’s arm. His boyfriend’s fingers searched for Baekhyun’s and he ended up caressing Baekhyun’s palm before he linked their hands together.

For how bad of a disaster this could have turned out to be, they had gotten damn lucky. Then again, hadn’t they always known that the bond they had was thicker than anything? Strengthened by the time they spent together and their desire to work harder each day, they were an EXO that wouldn’t let anything drive them apart.

Ever.

 

**Author's Note:**

> I know it's been a while! I've been working on this verse for months, always writig tiny bits because I've been so busy. I really want to continue these over time, though. I hope if you liked it, you'll subscribe so you can receive future notices on a 6th verse ^^ Oh and comments always make me smile <3 


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